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Eugenics Wars
Superior ability breeds superior ambition. The Eugenics Wars were a series of conflicts fought on Earth in the mid-1990s. The result of a scientific attempt to improve the human race through selective breeding and genetic engineering, the wars devastated Earth and nearly plunged the planet into a new Dark Ages. (TOS: "Space Seed") Prelude Records from this period are fragmentary, but what is known is that the wars' roots lie in the attempt of a group of human scientists' amibitious attempt to improve the race through selective breeding and genetic engineering. They created a race of "supermen" popularly known as the Augments, who were mentally and physically superior to ordinary men and women. They were five times stronger than the average person, their lung efficiency was 50 percent better than normal, and their intelligence was double that of normal humans. The also had enhanced senses, including the ability to hear beyond that of human capabilities. (TOS: "Space Seed"; ENT: "Borderland", "Cold Station 12") However, one aspect these scientists overlooked was the personality of the Augments. With their superior abilities, the Augments were aggressive and arrogant, "flaws" which the scientists were unable to correct at the time due to the infant stage of the science. One of the Augments' creators realized this, writing that "superior ability breeds superior ambition". That same scientist was ultimately killed by his own creation. (TOS: "Space Seed"; ENT: "Cold Station 12", "The Augments") Rise to power The Augments soon rose to power and conquered the rest of humanity. The most infamous of these superhuman conquerors (and supposed "best of the tyrants") was Khan Noonien Singh, who in 1992 became the "absolute ruler" of more than a quarter of the planet, from Asia through the Middle East. The following year, a group of fellow "supermen" followed in Khan's footsteps and simultaneously seized power in over 40 nations. Although these "supermen" usually treated their subjects as slaves, there were no massacres or wars under Khan's rule. This changed, however, when Khan was attacked and his position as ruler challenged, and terrible wars ensued both between the normal humans of the free world and the Augments and between rival "supermen". (TOS: "Space Seed"; "ENT: "Borderland") Conflicts Reports as to exactly how the wars began vary; some claim that humanity rose up against Khan and his fellow "supermen", while others believe the Augments began to fight among themselves, ultimately forcing ordinary human beings to become involved. Regardless of how they began or who started them, the Eugenics Wars had a devastating impact on Earth as entire populations were bombed out of existence. (ENT: "Cold Station 12"; TOS: "Space Seed") To average inhabitants of the United States of America and other industrialized nations, the wars had very little impact on everyday life, and went unmentioned and possibly unknown to the much of the world population at the time. The United States were relatively untouched by the wars. (VOY: "Future's End") Nonetheless, American troops did fight in the wars. Among them were the great-grandfather of future Starfleet captain Jonathan Archer, who was involved in a conflict in North Africa. In this encounter, Archer's great-grandfather was able to convince the commander of his enemy's forces to hold their fire long enough to evacuate a school that was directly between them. (ENT: "Hatchery") In 1996, the Augments were defeated and freedom was restored to the Earth; Khan was the last of the tyrants to fall. However, over eighty of the tyrants (including Khan) went unaccounted for, a fact the governments of the time did not disclose to the public in order to prevent panic. In 2267 it was discovered that Khan and 83 of his followers had managed to flee the planet unattended aboard the early sleeper ship [[SS Botany Bay|SS Botany Bay]]. (TOS: "Space Seed", Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) The official number of casualties from the wars was placed at 30 million, although some historians believe it to be closer to 35 million. Although the wars may have ended, humanity's fear of genetically-engineered beings remained. (TOS: "Space Seed"; ENT: "Cold Station 12") Aftermath Following the wars, controversial debates ensued between Earth's governments regarding the fate of thousands of Augment embryos. Unsure how to handle the issue, the governments opted to have the embryos placed into cryogenic suspension. This fact, however, was kept from public knowledge. (ENT: "The Augments") Despite the onslaught brought on by the wars, the issue of genetic manipulation and human genome enhancement continued to plague Earth into the 21st century, ultimately erupting in World War III in 2026. ("In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II" production art) By the 23rd century, the Eugenics Wars themselves would be viewed as synonymous with the Third World War, and may possibly regarded as the war's catalyst. (TOS: "Space Seed") Genetic engineering was ultimately banned on Earth, and the first cloned human, Doctor Stavos Keniclius, was exiled from the planet. However, the ban on genetic engineering would be challenged by the geneticist Doctor Arik Soong in the 2130s, when he stole some of the Augment embryos from Cold Station 12, a secret Starfleet medical research station, and raised them in the Trialas system. When the United Federation of Planets was created in 2161, this ban would be extended to all member worlds. (TAS: "The Infinite Vulcan"; DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?", "Statistical Probabilities"; ENT: "Borderland", "The Augments") Regardless, in 2365 the Federation allowed genetic engineering on Darwin Station, breaking its own ban, which turned out to be fatal for the crew on the [[USS Lantree|USS Lantree]]. The cause of this were the genetically enhanced children whose immune systems were engineered to attack viruses outside their own bodies. Only by intervention of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise]] was the situation resolved. (TNG: "Unnatural Selection") Background Information TOS: "Space Seed" and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan gave the date for the Wars as the 1990s, but DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" was thought to have retconned that date with a reference to them having occurred two centuries prior. This would place the Wars in the mid-to-late 22nd century, which was inconsistent with Star Trek: First Contact. Episode writer Ronald D. Moore later admitted to having referred to the line from Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan but accidentally forgot to account for the show being a century later. The original date of the Wars was reaffirmed when Phlox stated in ENT: "Borderland", that Arik Soong's Augments were pretty sophisticated for 20th century genetics. Phlox later mentions to the Klingons that genetic engineering on Earth was "banned decades ago", likely meaning not more than a century ago. Which could mean that it wasn't until a long time after the Eugenics Wars that genetic engineering was banned, likely following the formation of United Earth. Also, in "Space Seed" Spock describes the Eugenics Wars as "the era of your last so-called world war," often misinterpreted by viewers as meaning that the last world war and Eugenics Wars were one and the same. Spock's statement could be interpeted that some contemporaries of the Eugenics Wars optimistically thought it would be the last global conflict. In TOS: "Bread and Circuses", it is stated that 37 million died in World War III-- consistent with Phlox's assertion that over 30 million died in the Eugenics Wars (again connecting WWIII and the Eugenics Wars), but not Riker's claim that 600 million died in the nuclear conflict in the 2050s. Although TNG has never stated when WWIII occurred till the movies, the problem is further complicated with the TNG Episode "Up the Long Ladder". Data says that in the early 22nd century they were still recovering from World War III. However, given the Riker's established end date of WWIII as mid-21st Century, and the continuation, even post-First Contact of the post-atomic horror until at least 2074, it is not impossible to imagine that recovery from that massively devastating conflict might still be occuring in the early 2100's. Even TOS talks about wars in the 21st century ("The Savage Curtain"). It is also possible, given speculation that the Eastern Coalition was comprised of many of the nations Khan was thought to have conquered that the two conflicts may be linked through causal history in much the same way as World War I and World War II. So it is unclear if there is something we do not understand, perhaps some historians by the 23rd century connect the two wars. Fans have speculated that, since real life history does not support the existence of the Eugenics Wars or an impending third World War, the Star Trek universe may actually take place in parallel reality. In which case, conflicts with factual events would be moot. It has also been speculated that, perhaps, the Eugenics Wars were fought and won in secret, which would explain instances in Star Trek canon that do not support their existence. This is how they were portrayed in the novels by Greg Cox. de:Eugenische Kriege Category:Earth